shoes

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Most Asians require that shoes be taken off inside the home. Does your family follow this tradition? Is it akward to tell Non-Asians to take off their shoes? My roommate and I have a policy where we ask guests to take off their shoes before entering our dorm room. We got this idea off of second years who are neat freaks. If you think about it, it's so dirty to trek around in the room with shoes that have stepped on bacteria, dirt, perhaps rotten food, and who knows what else. What do you think? [Edit by="rliu on May 30, 9:59:53 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

It's just customary to take off shoes when I walk into my household, but we don't force anyone to do so. A lot of my non-Asian friends politely follow suit when they come inside, but we don't find it to be a necessity. I do agree though that it helps to keep the house clean. I find myself when i go over to non-Asian houses and i do tkae my shoes off instinctly, and sometimes people tell me its ok to just leave them on. In the dorms though, I just like to keep my shoes on because i feel that the halls and stuff aren't the cleaniest floors. One of my floormates got a relaly gross foot fungal infection fro mthe dorm rooms, so in that sense, it's cleaner to keep your shoes on!

[Anonymous]

in my household my parents dont force my friends to take off their shoes but they do so anyway when they go up to my room. i hate when people put shoes on my bed. that is gross. in the dorms i walk around in my pucca slippers and at home i have to wear them because my father tells me that my feet will get rough. my house has carpet that is kind of weird it has texture to it so it isnt plain which makes it kinda rough. yeah shoes are dirty..

[Anonymous]

In my mom's home, taking off your shoes before you enter is like an unwritten law. Everyone knows that it is required. I think it makes sense though, because we have a thick white carpet and it's really really hard to clean. I remember my mom asking me "how do american people keep their homes so clean when they never take off their shoes?" I found that to be a puzzling question as well. If everyone takes off his/her shoes, then it's more relaxing to just lay on the floor or sit there without worrying about dirt/grass/other nasty stuff on your bum.

However, in my room, noone takes off her shoes and we all kind of walk around trying not to think of what may be lurking in the carpet. It's a rather dark color, so I guess it's ok.
I think it's pretty neat, rliu, that you manage to keep your room clean through this asian custom. [Edit by="yzhen on May 31, 8:29:24 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

My family also follows this tradition. However, I think nowadays, the main reason we still ask our guests to take off their shoes before entering our house is for sanitary purposes. We definitely would not like dirt and what not from their shoes to go on our carpet. But what's interesting is that for some families I know, they still follow the tradition purely for the tradition itself. I heard that it is to show respect to the people in the home, which makes me wonder where this tradition originates and how not wearing shoes constitute the sense of courtesy and respect. Maybe it's because shoes are seen as something used to protect the person from dirt and what not, so to wear them into the home means the guest assumes the house is also dirty?

[Anonymous]

I think taking off the shoes is just a sign of respect for the household and the people that live in it. You don't want to get the carpet or ground dirty that the person might have just cleaned. And...I also grew up with it, so I don't really know any other way to explain it. But I do know that when I go to my friends houses who aren't Asian, they think it's weird when I take my shoes off. They always say, "why are you taking your shoes off? you don't have to..." And when they come over to my house, I always make them take off their shoes. My mom also makes us wear slippers around the house, so not even the bare feet! But I hardly follow that rule since I wear socks anyways. But overall, I think it is mainly traditional and respectful to remove the shoes.

[Anonymous]

In my house my parents make my friends take off their shoes because we have carpets in our house and it's white. yah... i'lL used to this custom so i think it's gross when people, like one of my roomates who is extremely dirty, wears their dirty flip flops and sneakers into the bathroom. I think that is disgusting cus what's the point of showering and being clean if right when you step out you step into the crap that they carry around onthe bottom of their shoes all day?

[Anonymous]

i am quite traditional so i believe it's a courtesy to take off my shoes once i'm inside someone's home, but i'd get confused in homes that are a bit more on the americanized size...i mean, should i take them off? should i not? lol. however, for dorming, i wear my shoes/slippers/flipflops almost 24/7 so i definitely don't have a take-of-your-shoes-when-you-enter-policy. =)

[Anonymous]

I equate taking my shoes off before entering my home with a sense of relief and comfort. However I didn't realize that until dorm life because like most of you I wear my shoes around my dorm room most of the day. So I would go as far to say that one of the reasons I couldn't and still don't really accept my dorm room as "home" is because I don't take my shoes off at the door everytime I come in, which is a practice I religiously follow back home.

As most of your posts imply the whole practice of taking off one's shoes before entering a home is definitely an Asian custom and I always find it very interesting how the cultural differences with non-Asian homes play out when a non-Asian visits an Asian home or vice versa. It's just one of those minute yet "in-your-face" cultural differences that people from different backgrounds learn from.

[Anonymous]

In my house people normally just take off their shoes at the door just because they see me or whoever else do it.. and i think it's much more polite to take off your shoes if you know that the host family does. It's not something that's necessary to do in my house, so we don't ask people to take off their shoes if they don't do it by themselves.

In my dorm I have a pair of asian slippers like i do at home they're more comfortable and it's nice to know i'm wearing clean slippers. My roomie and I don't care if people have their shoes on in our room or not, I've never really considered it much.

At home, my grandma will chastise me when I don't wear slippers because she says i'll get my feet dirty or too cold (when i'm on the tiles). i'm actually really used to them now so i dont mind wearing them at all 😛

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a predominantly white community, and used to hesitate to have friends come over when I was younger. I remember kids used to say "You take off your shoes?? WHY do you do that?", and I would feel uneasy because I wanted to fit in, be like everyone else, and not be put on the spot.
However, I make it a rule for my friends to remove their shoes. Even more so, because GUESS who has to sweep the floor, dust the furniture, and vaccuum the house??
In my dorm room, I walk around barefoot. However, my roommates keep their shoes on if their only in the room for less than an hour, otherwise we try to keep our carpet clean. One of my roommates is very messy, but she is still willing to help out with the vaccuuming seeing how we all pitch in with the trash, recycling, and emptying of the bathroom for cleaning.
Keeping shoes off is important. It helps keep the house clean, lowers the amount of dust, and allows the carpet to survive for a few more years. Carpet isn't that cheap to replace. Wood floors are even more expensive. Thank my parents for making me help install the wood floors, remodel the whole house, and clean house.
-Ames

[Anonymous]

Eversince the day I was able to wear and take off shoes on my own, i was taught to never wear shoes in the house or in anyone else's house unless i was given permission to. I don't know if it was a sign of respect or what, but for my family, it was to keep the house clean. Even though if people suggest to wipe their shoes on the doormat before entering, it was not accepted. I never had a problem telling people not to wear their shoes into my house because they can understand that we just want to keep our house clean OK!!! haha

[Anonymous]

My family lived in Japan for a while (where they always take off shoes and wear slippers) so the habit just never went away. We still take off our shoes by the door and switch to indoor sandal/slippers. We even have slippers for bathroom (even used to have separate slippers for kitchen too). It's much cleaner that way and why do you want to bring in ourside dirt to your bedroom anyways?

[Anonymous]

Our family also requires people to take off their shoes when entering our houses. My mom actually has shoe coverings that can be slipped on when people come to our home but doesn't want to take off their shoes.

In dorm rooms, my roomates and I don't really have any restrictions. We just wear shoes whenever we want and take them off whenever. I think it would be a good idea though to have a shoe rack and having a sign that ask guests to take off their shoes.

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